Coping With Parents

Three typical parent-child conflicts are dramatized: a girl’s mother nags her; a boy’s father regularly seems to criticize and argue with him. The narrator points out that behavior that gets attention will be repeated and suggests that these young people are, in effect, rewarding or reinforcing the undesirable behavior be responding to it. The nagging gets the table set, the father’s criticism gets his son’s attention, and the mother protects herself from ingratitude. The narrator shows them how to change the situations by changing their responses and by understanding people’s basic needs. Each dramatized situation is replayed using the narrator’s suggestions, and shows a positive solution to the problem.